Reaching time synchronicity between a transmitter and a receiver under inter-symbol interference conditions may be difficult, and sometimes even impossible. Timing recovery mechanism at the receiver may not work correctly, or alternatively lock in a wrong steady state condition in presence of inter-symbol interference. Some receivers employ an equalizer aimed at reducing inter-symbol interference. The equalizer is often used in conjunction with a timing recovery mechanism, wherein both the equalizer and timing recovery mechanism try to converge to a correct steady state operation simultaneously. Simultaneous convergence into a correct steady state operation may be either impossible or not produce deterministic results due to inter-dependencies between the equalizer and timing recovery mechanism.